New Delhi, Mar 24: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah Friday said that the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had adopted a policy of zero tolerance against drugs to make a drug-free India.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that chairing the regional conference on ‘Drug Trafficking and National Security’ at Bengaluru, Karnataka, the home minister said that under ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, during the 75-day campaign starting from June 1, 2022, a target was set to destroy 75,000 kg of narcotics.
“However, under the leadership of PM Modi, a total of 5,94,620 kg of narcotics worth Rs 8409 crore had been destroyed so far, overachieving the target manifold,” he said.
Shah said that of the total narcotics destroyed so far, 1,29,363 kg worth Rs 3,138 crore had been destroyed by the NCB alone.
He said that on the directions of PM Modi, the Ministry of Home Affairs has adopted a three-pronged approach to crackdown on narcotics.
The home minister said that this three-pronged approach includes strengthening institutional structures, empowerment of all agencies related to control of narcotics, and strengthening the coordination among them and launching an awareness campaign.
He said that the problem of drug trafficking was not related to a state or the Centre alone, but a national problem and the efforts to deal with it should also be national and unified.
Shah said that the fight against drugs was to be fought not only by the government but also by the people.
He said that to deal with this issue there was a need to organise district-level and state-level NCORD meetings regularly.
The home minister emphasised that to crack down on the entire network, narcotics cases should be thoroughly investigated, with a bottom to top and top to bottom approach.
He said that no case should be investigated in isolation.
Shah said that a total of 1257 cases were registered between 2006 and 2013, which increased by 152 percent to 3172 between 2014-2022, while, the total number of arrests during the same period increased by 260 percent to 4888 from 1362. “During 2006-2013, 1.52 lakh kg of drugs were seized which doubled to 3.30 lakh kg between 2014 and 2022, drugs worth Rs 768 crore were seized during 2006-2013, which increased by 25 times to Rs 20,000 crore between 2014 and 2022,” he said.
The home minister said, “There are four pillars of the Modi government’s campaign to eliminate the menace of drugs from the country: detection of drugs, destruction of network, detention of culprits, and rehabilitation of drug abusers.”
He said that all the states should make proper use of the NCORD portal and NIDAAN platform for effective action against drug trafficking.
Shah said that it was also the need of the hour to strengthen the Anti-Narcotics Task Force constituted in various states so that decisive action could be taken in the fight against narcotics.
He also said that apart from this, various provisions of the NDPS Act should also strictly be implemented.
The home minister said that the government under the leadership of PM Modi has adopted a “whole of the government” approach against drugs and all departments and agencies should move forward to make a drug-free India by increasing cooperation, coordination, and collaboration.
He said that apart from this there was a need to increase the focus on coastal security and sea routes and tighter vigil should be maintained on the southern sea route.
Representatives from five southern states and three union territories attended the conference.
In the presence of the home minister, 9298 kg of seized narcotics worth Rs 1235 crore were destroyed.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between the Rashtriya Raksha University and the Government of Karnataka to open a new campus of the University at Shivamogga.